・ ・ Chapter 149: The Underealm
“Nn…”
I felt like I"d just seen a very nostalgic dream. One of innocent children, my childhood, when we all played without a care…
It was a good dream, nothing negative about it, but once I woke up, I felt very groggy. I should"ve had enough sleep by now, but my body simply refused to rid itself of this fatigue. No, I get it. It wasn"t my body that was tired, it was my heart.
“Oh, you"re up, Yuuto-kun” “Yeah”
“You don"t look so good. How"re you holding up?” “I"m fine, cla.s.s rep. I"ll go wash my face”
I was glad the first person who saw me awake was her. Cla.s.s rep was worried for me, but didn"t pry deeper than that. Thank you, I need some time for myself right now. First, I needed to freshen up. I splashed my face not with the usual cold fountain water, but with water from a luke warm well.
We weren"t at a fairy square. All around us were the ruins of brickwork buildings. At the moment, we were in the middle of clearing a new zone of the dungeon. Unfortunately, or perhaps because the difficulty had been raised, we failed to find a fairy square by the end of the first day"s exploring. So reluctantly, we decided on a night watch, and camped out.
We drew straws for the watch, and I, who had my turn after cla.s.s rep, was also the last on watch duty. It was currently 3 in the morning. I should do this properly until the girls wake up.
“…”
I hoped to do it properly, but once I was the only one awake in the silence, the rampant thoughts started again. Why, why… why did Reina have to die. She lay in a pool of blood, while he, Momokawa, stood to her side, holding a knife coated in fresh blood. I just couldn"t get that scene out of my head, it was seared into my eyes.
He was like the devil himself. He killed Reina, but didn"t just stop there, he even puppeteered her corpse and used that as a hostage. I was such an idiot, letting them go just like that. After the blinding fog cleared, we did chase after them. We didn"t find them. Neither Momokawa and Futabsan who ran off with him, nor Reina"s body.
I couldn"t even prepare a grave for her, I"d even let her killer get away without the slightest retribution. There should"ve been another way, a better way to go about this… No, not that, I, why wasn"t I on time? Why the h.e.l.l couldn"t I come in time to save Reina…
“s.h.i.+t, it"s my fault… It"s because I"m weak, I was too weak to protect her”
I can"t forgive Momokawa for killing her. But I can"t forgive myself even more, I wasn"t able to protect her.
I believed that I was always doing my best in this dungeon. I"d come to accept my super human strength as normal, magic, battle arts, skills, I"d made use of all of those. Most of all, I"d gotten the sort of real battle experience I couldn"t even dream of having in j.a.pan. Fighting monster day in and day out, I"d come to see my powers growing endlessly without limit. With this Job called Hero, I had fought all this time and had become strong. Stronger that the past me, stronger than the me yesterday, and I continue to get stronger―― But it wasn"t enough. I wasn"t nearly strong enough to even hope to protect Reina.
What was that ‘best" then. I only ‘believed" I was doing my best, when the results clearly showed I wasn"t. Hiroki, my friend, my buddy, even he was killed… Wasn"t I supposed to let no one else die? Not just Sakura or cla.s.s rep, or the girls with me now, everyone, wasn"t I supposed to strive for the strength to protect each and every one of them?
I was naive. This naivete of mine must"ve put a lot of weight on Futabsan. Starting from the four-armed gogma, I relied heavily on her strength to achieve our victories.
But that Berserker who could stood shoulder to shoulder with me, the Hero, had now turned against us. I just, couldn"t understand what that girl was thinking. I"ve heard how she was indebted to Momokawa for saving her life.
But was that one obligation towards her savior worth protecting him after he"d committed such a clear crime, after he"d killed Reina. Was it like what Sakura said, that she was being controlled by one of Momokawa"s curses? Could it be some other reason, something deeper that none of us would know―― I didn"t have a clue. But the point wasn"t that she became his ally. I know. The fact that Momokawa was the one who killed Reina was something like a coincidence. Some thing like the worst possible thing happening at the worst possible timing.
We were in the dungeon, death was always near. Unlike Sakura or I, Reina had none of the fort.i.tude, be it physical or mental, and none of the necessary skills to survive in this harsh, life or death, psychologically grueling life. She was, just a normal girl, after all. Reina hadn"t changed at all from all the way back when we first met. She was always that pure, innocent girl.
She wasn"t built for a place like this. Whether it be the myriads of monsters creeping around everywhere, or even other kids from our own cla.s.s desperate for survival, any of those could"ve brought about her end. It just so happened that Momokawa ended up with that role. He was yelling out that it was self-defense, but rather than an excuse, that might"ve been what he really believed.
I couldn"t think of any reason for Momokawa to want to kill her purely for the sake of it, he wasn"t that sort of person in school. He didn"t kill her because he wanted to, is what I wanted to believe. That"s why I had to protect her. From monsters that"d have her as food, from cla.s.smates who"d kill her for personal gain, and from Momokawa, who was someone who could kill with valid reason―― From anyone. If only I was there, if I was there at her side, I could"ve saved her!
“d.a.m.n, dammit… why, why didn"t I make it…”
I could think all I want, but I"d always end up back at the same regret.
I could despair and cry all day, but I couldn"t turn back time, I couldn"t bring Reina back. I could only, meaninglessly, regret. I couldn"t keep staying like this. I knew that. I realized that, but couldn"t bring myself to do it, I could only regret.
“Nii-san”
I jumped at the sudden call, looking towards the caller. Then I remembered that my face right now wasn"t something I could show others, so I, very unnaturally, faced away.
“Oh, uh, Sakura… It"s, a bit early to be getting up, don"t you think?” “You"re, still thinking about Reina”
“I am, a lot”
The words stung as they left my mouth. I ended up saying it to my sister. I was hopeless, pathetic.
“… Don"t worry. I know we still have to fight, the enemies in this zone are pretty strong. We shouldn"t let our guard down, especially when――” “It"s fine, nii-san. You don"t need to be that way, at least, in front of me”
She lowered herself and sat beside me, slightly leaning her body on mine.
“No, I wasn"t-”
“Yes, you were. You don"t say anything, not to me or anyone, you"re keeping everything bottled up”
Of course I didn"t talk about it. I"m a man so, no, before that, there"s also the fact that if I became unreliable, it"d bear heavily on the others. We were still trapped in the dungeon, I didn"t have the time nor energy to spare, to mourn Reina"s death.
“Nii-san, I know it"s not easy, and I respect your decision to hold strong. But please, can"t you rely on me, just a little, can"t you let me console you… It hurts me, seeing you like this” “Sakura… I"m, sorry, I worried you again”
Right, of course. Of course Sakura knew how stubborn I was being. She was my little sister, someone I"d grown up with my whole life.
“Please, nii-san, please just don"t try to carry everything on your own. I don"t want to be simply protected by you. Let me be your strength, I promise I"ll be reliable. I"ll become stronger, much stronger as a Saintess” “Yeah, I will. We"ll get stronger. Right now, that"s the only thing we can do”
Reina was killed because I wasn"t strong enough.
But I still had people I needed to protect. Sakura, and everyone, I had to protect everyone. And for that I needed strength. I needed power, more power than anyone―― The power of a true Hero.
“That"s right. We should all strive to return alive”
“Yeah, I won"t be letting anyone else die”
This didn"t mean I"d accepted Reina"s death. All this grief, all this regret, I"d never forget any of it.
But I still had others, people very important to me, and I needed to keep growing in order to keep them safe. I still had Sakura. I swore to my parents that I"d always protect her, my most precious person, my sister. I"ll do it. I"ll beat this dungeon, I"ll find a way to return everyone home, no matter what. We were in a dark, deserted town. The buildings here had complex architecture, made of metals and stone, they resembled sight-seeing spots in Europe. The town exuded a sort of finesse.
The place didn"t look too old and there were few collapsed buildings. But no one lived inside, there wasn"t a single sign of people having lived in those buildings.
The air here felt stagnant, and there was the faint smell of blood everywhere. There were also the growls of creatures that were surely not people.
“――!! Werewolves incoming!”
Natsukawsan, who took point as the party"s Thief, yelled sharply. And at the same time, I heard the familiar ‘AWOOO!", a ferocious werewolf"s howl, along with piercing bloodl.u.s.t. They"d noticed us and were ready for a fight.
“Asuna, guard the rear” “Got it”
I went out front, leaving Asuna with the others in case of a multi-front attack. I was beside Natsukawsan in less than 3 seconds, but the werewolves were also fast. Those bloodthirsty creatures with crazed, red eyes had already come to striking distance.
Werewolves, as their name implied, were humanoid monsters with wolf-like heads. Their bodies were covered in black fur, and they had physiques like bodybuilding musclemen. As if they"d been previously human, most werewolves had some form of clothing on them. Though these clothes were ripped, torn, and didn"t function as any sort of covering anymore. Some of them even wore random pieces of armor.
The one in front of me had its pants legs ripped in half at the bottom, and wore a shredded vest, an overall common appearance.
“UOOGAAAAHH!!”
If it"d simply charged in, it"d be no different from any other monster. But this werewolf wasn"t a simple beast that solely used it"s claws and fangs. It held its own weapon, and brandished that weapon in a practiced manner.
Its strength was on par with that of a living armor. The latter was in full plate armor which gave it a higher defense, but the werewolf made up for it with agility. These man-beasts ran, jumped and kicked off walls with tremendous accuracy, hunting their prey with a 3 dimensional attack style. These monsters also hunted in groups, and we"d encounter those at quite a high frequency at that. Their presence alone raised the bar very high in this part of the dungeon.
“Two… No there"s three. Natsukawsan, mind leaving them all to me?” “Eh, but-”
“I"ll be fine. And, there may be more of them lurking around, mind keeping an eye out?” “Okay, will do!”
The monsters we face got stronger. But in all our effort coming this far, we"d done the same. As for me, I had to become stronger than anyone, I needed to be a lot stronger than I am now.
“――Slash ”
In contrast to the heated emotions in my heart, my sword was calm, quick, and focused.
Slash was the first sword art I learned, and as such, it was easiest to use. I would calmly a.n.a.lyze my opponent"s movements and cut, and if my body allowed it, use all my strength to slice them in half.
“UOAAHH!!”
The werewolf I slashed had been bisected and dropped to the ground. These creatures were tough enough to steam through most shallow cuts, but they couldn"t possibly avoid instant death once they were split in two. I"d finished the first of them in one strike and immediately moved to intercept the second.
“FSHH… VRRRAAAAHH!!”
My next challenger had its upper body crammed in muscle. It had arms as thick as logs and carried a large warhammer. This one seemed to be particularly focused on strength.
This musclebound werewolf was charging towards me in wild breaths, but I didn"t neglect the third one that"d been standing on a roof to the side and chose this moment to launch an attack from my blind spot.
“GRRRAAAHHH!!”
This werewolf, a thin one that carried a spear, practically shot out from atop the red, triangular roof. I don"t know if they"d planned it or whether it was a coincidence, but the situation did in fact turn into one where their opponent would focus on the big, hammer guy in front while the slim spear user would secretly strike their vitals. If I focus on one, the other gets me. Meaning, I simply had to take down both at the same time.
I could finish this easily if I used Cross Calibur, but that"d serve nothing. This fight was one we could win easily, so I will make use of it to train, become stronger, and hone my skills. I can"t use the Hero"s finis.h.i.+ng move every time if I hope to grow.
So I"ll be handling these foes with the weapons and skills I can use anytime.
“ Force Boost ”
I invoked the magic that boosted my strength, one I learned when I first defeated the armor bear. At the same time, I drew a sword from an unseen scabard.
Sword Storage: Dimension magic of the light element, used to call forth weapons. An alice blue magic circle quickly formed on my left hand, which is when I visualized my desired blade.
“ Sword Storage, SELECT, Blue Lightning Blade ”
This skill, Sword Storage, was something I"d learned after the gogma battle. It allowed me to create a weapon from nothing, a really powerful magic. As the description says, this skill employs a magic that manipulates s.p.a.ce, dimension magic. My Sword Storage couldn"t store anything and everything, it was limited to bladed weapons under a set size and quant.i.ty.
Though the name says Sword, I could actually put in spears, axes, and even those flimsy wooden bats that gomas used. The cla.s.sification for weapon was pretty flexible. Thanks to this loose definition of terms, I also put some Potions in there for emergency use, but I normally used this skill as per intended. Now, the weapon I called from my Sword Storage this time was Blue Lightning Blade, one of the magic swords Takanas.h.i.+-san had created with her upgrade ability before we"d gone into the goma"s pyramid castle.
“ Line Curis Sagitta!!”
I made a thrusting motion with my single edged sword of lightning directed at the spear wielding werewolf swooping down from above.
There was an undeniable disparity in reach between sword and spear, the latter was said to conquer any sword with its comparatively three fold higher length. But that didn"t mean I had to display 3 times or more skill in my sword to beat the longer spear. The solution was much easier, more accurate, a sure method to beat the spear user.
What I did simply amounted to shooting lighting out of my Blue Lightning Blade, killing the werewolf from far away. My magic, Line Curis Sagitta, caused an intense, blue crackle of lightning, skewering the swift monster.
“GYOAAHH!!”
I observed the spear werewolf, its pitch black fur singed and shredded, as it fell limply to the ground, out of the corner of my eyes, while brandis.h.i.+ng my sword against the musclebound werewolf that"d come striking distance to me and was about to swing down its steel warhammer.
“GRRR!! VOAHHH!!” “HAAA!!”
The large werewolf"s hammer and the sword in my right hand clashed fiercely. And the one to be blown away was the one who lacked in strength; in this case, the werewolf.
Good thing I casted Force Boost. I"d clearly lose in a test of power without it. As both a pract.i.tioner of the Souma style of swordplay and as a Hero, I wasn"t necessarily a power fighter. But monsters didn"t follow rules, the creatures of this dungeon didn"t play fair, and there were lots of instances where the extra strength can mean the difference between life and death. Many monsters moved in groups, packs or swarms, which would lead to situations where evading their attacks would mean that my companions behind me would get hurt.
Normally, I"d face an opponent like this warhammer werewolf with my speed, but this time, I deliberately faced it head on in an attempt to test just how far I could go with pure muscle. If a simple Force Boost amplified my strength so much, I could expect the buff spells from Sakura and the others to push it much higher.
But monsters came in very large sizes as well, those called bosses. I couldn"t rely solely on strength against those. With Blue Lightning Blade in my left hand and the Paladin"s Sword in my right, I used both weapons at once to finish off the now out-of-balance hammer wolf.
“ Voltec Blazer ”
This was a technique combining the dual wielding battle art of dual severing, Blazer, and the innate power of the Blue Lightning Blade. The azure lightning from the latter could copy over to its paired blade, doubling the power as Voltec Blazer.
If I used my Blue Fire Blade in this technique, I"d instead have Burning Blazer. Since the element greatly influences the technique, the name of the battle art changes to match. Although, most of the time it wasn"t that I plan on using these techniques, but it just happens that I have the weapons on hand to utilize them. Even this time, it was only because I judged that I"d need Blue Lightning Blade to defeat the spear user and ended up with this combo of blades.
Regardless, this already weakened werewolf would"ve been beaten just with Blazer so with the might of lightning added in, the monster had died before it even hit the ground. Seeing the corpse, which had become nothing more than burned black pieces of meat, I thought it was a bit overkill and I should reflect on it. Not on the cruelty, but the fact that using unnecessarily powerful techniques like this wasted a lot of energy. The fight never lets up. So it was imperative that I be as efficient as possible in order to clear the dungeon.
“That should be all of them, Natsukawsan, do you see any more?” “…. Nope, looks like we"re in the clear”
Natsukawsan reported after cupping her ears to confirm any existing presences over a wider range. There was always the chance that other werewolves would come to their aid hearing sounds of battle, which could draw in other kinds of monsters as well. Somehow, we"ve been very lucky to have Natsukawsan and her adeptness at detecting enemies.
“Soumkun, sorry I, left it all to you” “No, I wanted it like that. Please don"t worry”
“Ok… But, um, I, if I could, I kind of want to be your――” “Nii-san, we should continue. We really need to find a fairy square by today”
Natsukawsan, who looked like she wanted to say something with her fists curled in front of her in a determined pose, was interrupted by Sakura suddenly calling from behind. I was the one who wanted to fight on my own this time, so she really didn"t need to mind it. Natsukawsan was really too kind.
“Yeah, we should. Alright, let"s get going Natsukawsan”
“Oh, ok, sure, haah…”
For some reason, Natsukawsan made a dispirited expression as she pa.s.sed by me, and with her in front, we began walking again. Natsukawsan, if you"re tired, I can switch with you… Are you sure you"re alright?